Lip-reading defender thought his glory moment was being taken away
New Hibs signing Warren O’Hora thought he’d been denied his dream Easter Road debut – after seeing his first goal for the club temporarily ruled out. But the Irishman always knew that his header off the underside of the bar had beaten Queen’s Park keeper Calum Ferrie and bounced over the line in Tuesday night’s 5-1 Premier Sports Cup victory.
O’Hora opened the scoring as David Gray’s men continued their impressive start to the domestic season, the central defender rising to meet Joe Newell’s in-swinging corner from the right with a thumping header. But there was a delay before referee Ross Hardie pointed to the centre circle to indicate a goal, with the official appearing to over-rule his assistant looking along the line – always a tricky gig when bodies are flying in a goalmouth melee – as Ferrie made a desperate attempt to scoop the ball clear.
A smiling O’Hora, a free agent summer signing, revealed: “I looked at the linesman – and I actually saw him mouth the words: ‘No goal.’ And I was thinking, well, obviously I had seen the ball go in and cross the line, so I was confused.
“But to be fair the referee made a good decision. From my angle, it went straight over the line.
“I thought the moment was going to be taken away from me when I saw the linesman say no goal. I might have been wrong about that. But I was just really happy to get a goal on my Easter Road debut.
“It was amazing to get a goal. A first start at Easter Road, a goal and a win. I couldn’t ask for anything more – expect maybe a clean sheet!
“I thought it was a good team performance overall. I think we did a lot of things very well.”
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